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This is not a complete list of everything available on the web, just some of the tactical space games that have caught my eye.  (Reviewed on 2/26/2012)

 

Places to check these sites for more free games on the web:

Tom's Spaceship Miniatures / Games page

Free Wargames Rules

Warp Spawn Games

 

 

Website

 

Now available from Kremlin Miniatures (http://www.kremlinminiatures.co.uk) are the free rules, Event Horizon, quick play star ship combat rules which includes ship design rules and a campaign system.

They also mention "We are thinking of making a range of star ships for these rules. Send us your thoughts on this matter" on their News/Teasers page so please give them some feedback.

 

 

Website

 

4/16/2006 - Beta rules are available for Fate and Destiny: Starforce at War.  These rules are designed to run a taskforce of up to 8-10 capital ships along with a number of fighter flights and missile salvos :

"Fate and Destiny is a set of miniature rules for sci-fi combat in the 30th century. Fleet combat including fighters, missiles, grappling and boarding.  Ship vector movement is true to Newtonian physics.  A separate section covers ground combat at a tactical level.  A campaign system for running a series of games over many game months and years.

A more scientific and mature approach it taken with these rules. I try to use current science and carry it forward to a logical extension far in the future. Though most is speculation interlaced with conjecture.

These rules are currently being designed and play tested. Right now the fleet battle system is underdevelopment.

Note I probably will be changing the scale of the ships. Plus I will add a computer assist function."

 

Website

 

2/5/2012 - Greater Space Battles is a solo game of space combat using table-top miniatures. Two or more players can use the rules as well, with very little modification, but the design focus was for solo-play.

 

 

 

Website

 

10/3/2009 - GOBS website location updated to http://www.thegobspage.com/, it has been there for a long while but I never got the update done.

 

11/8/2005 - Now available (for free of course) is G.O.B.S. More!, the first official rules supplement for G.O.B.S.!.

The supplement covers spinal mount weapons, tractor beams, defense satellites, asteroids and more, and offers improved rules for fighters to add greater tactical variety to the game. I've also included new racial fleet statistics and a handy fleet stat chart. The supplement is in PDF (Acrobat Reader) format, and downloadable for free. Also include as a bonus, stats for the new Hive miniatures from Studio Bergstrom

 

3/7/2005 - Originally announced and discussed on The Miniatures Page, G.O.B.S.! now has its own web page.  

"G.O.B.S.! is the game where fleets big enough to blot out the stars duke it out in the cold harsh depths of space... with lots of lasers, phasers, disruptors, cannons, torpedoes, all firing willy-nilly, with ships exploding in glorious bursts of light and, yes, impossibly cinematic sound. (Physics? We don't need no stinkin' physics!) If you like space opera style action, G.O.B.S.! is the miniatures space battle game for you!"

The rules and charts are available for download as PDF files.

 

From Jim Wallman - >HELLFIRE< Page - Cruel Void Page

 

7/30/2005 - The website for The Universe has moved to http://www.theuniverse.org.uk/ and the links have been changed though the >HELLFIRE< link on the rules page is incorrect.  Also added was a new game Big Burn which covers big fleet actions and is designed for each player to control many capital ships. Included are rules, movement order sheet, random number table spreadsheet, and sample scenario.

 

1/3/2001 - Part of "The Universe" role playing science fiction environment.  >HELLFIRE< is a fleet game where as Cruel Void is a fighter scale game.  Another rule set in "The Universe" include Starship Marine which covers boarding actions and Macroeconomic Campaign Rules.

 

From Desert Scribe at the Super Galactic Dreadnought blog

 

5/12/2012 - Kill Radius is based on the axiom that the larger the starship, the longer its deadly reach.  This game uses a hex mat and can be played with any miniatures, as long as both players are clear on what type of vessel each mini represents.  Steer clear of the enemy’s Kill Radius!

You can use any starship miniatures in your collection, but you do need a hex mat.  Recordkeeping is fairly simple--you can fit a whole fleet on one sheet of paper.  Ship design and combat is abstract.

 

Website

 

9/20/2008 - Consortium Games has released a new 2 page 'Quick Start' version of Launch Fighters! so you can set up and start playing the game in only 15 minutes.  Also they are developing a video game of Launch Fighters!, with more details coming soon.

 

5/22/2007 - Now available for download is Launch Fighters! from Consortium Games.

Launch Fighters! is a new spaceship board game. You can design your own fleet of starships and challenge your opponents in an exciting star battle.

Unlike other space battle games that have a 149 page rulebook or cost an arm and a leg, you can just download and print Launch Fighters! It's a simple, flexible, fun and FREE space battle system for any galaxy you can imagine.

To support the game, Consortium Games has set up an Forum, and Admiral's Club and a Newsletter to help players connect and share ideas.

 

Website

 

2/26/2012 - “One Page Fleets is my feeble stab at making a Super-fast game of space combat that will fit on (at most) a couple pages printed.  OPF is designed to support large numbers of ships with a minimum of fuss and little reference. After a few games it should all be second nature."

 

Website

 

8/22/2012 - Pax Stellarum is now available for download from Google Docs.

"Pax Stellarum is a spaceship Table-top Miniature gaming ruleset designed to be able to represent ships from any Sci-Fi universe. Players are not Limited to just designing ships, but can also develop their own fighters, weapons and troops.

There are 11 different types of weapons, and each may have as many as 5 stats customized. Additionally, weapons may have multiple traits, which grant them unique capabilities. This results in a virtually infinite number of weapon combinations.

Troops may also be customized with varied stats and different traits. This allows players to design different forces for each race they play with, thus better representing the diversityfound in Sci-Fi universes.

Finally, the ship construction system was developed to accommodate designs from extremely different scales. Players may create functional ships of merely 1 hull point or behemoths with dozens of hull points, all of which may be fielded in the same game while keeping game play balanced.

In Pax Stellarum, miniatures are to be used to represent each ship. Other items such as planets and asteroids make up the scenery in which fleets will clash for ultimate supremacy among the stars."

 

The main rulebook and design rules are available in both regular and print-friendly versions.

 

From ArmourSoft

 

4/16/2006 - A RCR fan page is located at http://www.naisp.net/mfischer/m_games2.htm 

 

8/14/2001 - ArmourSoft has moved to its new domain; www.irvania.com

 

12/2/2000 - Dave finally made the announcement:

Red Chicken Rising, the first (and probably only) tactical spaceship combat game to start out with a shower scene, is now online and available for free download from the ArmourSoft web site.

Available are the RCR rules, Daveway's Fighting Ships of the Galaxy 2997-2998, and several versions of the ship forms, turning guides, etc.  Most most are PDF files.

 

1/7/2000 - Dave let a bit more slip on sfconsim-l about the forces driving his design of RCR:

As I get older my gaming tastes (as a designer and as a player) have become more and more directed towards low complexity, fast playing, low player workload, easy to learn, high fun value games. Over and over I keep going back to my new mantra: "I have these cool miniatures. I want to play a game with them."  All other considerations follow after that.

 

This philosophy is blaringly obvious in the design work I've been doing lately on Red Chicken Rising, the spaceship combat component set in the Generic Legions universe. It has no relationship to science, physics, mathematics,  engineering, or even logic. I suspect such things can be tacked on fairly easily, but I don't care. The entire game system is based around these facts:

  * I've got several hundred spaceship miniatures that I've hardly used in 20 years, but really want to use in a game

  * The spaceship miniatures range in size from tiny fighters that are half-an-inch long, to huge ships that are nearly 6 inches long

  * My available playing surface (game table) is 60 inches by 60 inches, and that is not likely to change anytime soon

  * My available time slots for games are about 4 hours

  * None of the other game systems I've tried do what I want them to do; Full Thrust comes the closest and is a fairly reasonable match, so I will probably do a GL conversion module for FT

  * I like the GL universe, even though a number of other local gamers don't; some are very unhappy that I don't take sci fi gaming "seriously", others aren't comfortable with a sci fi background that isn't from some "official" source. I suppose that would change when I get around to finishing and publishing the GL novels.

  * I'm much more interested in game that are the "each player controls 8 to 25 ships", as opposed to the more common "each player controls 1 or 2 ships" sort. That's really the only reason Full Thrust isn't quite what I want: it's great at the "each player controls up to 5 ships" but I don't think it works well with more than that.

 

1/6/2000 - Dave Ferris mentioned on sfconsim-l;

I've got some work done on Red Chicken Rising, the spaceship combat miniatures game that takes place in the Generic Legions universe. Like GL, there will be several versions, with various levels of detail and playability. I will be running the first public game as a kid's event at PicaFight III, which takes place on Saturday, February 26, at Picatinny Arsenal in northern New Jersey. The rules version I'll be using is RCR: Space Dust (the rules of which are suspiciously similar to GL:BBV, and the original miniatures version of Space Waste we whipped up in 1982). As I get these hammered out I will post them to the web site for free consumption. I will probably field 8 fleets from 8 different races, but I haven't figured out which races I'll use yet. The Generics, Irvanians, D'Orques, Ducks, Bad Days, and Alfs are all likely candidates since I just happened to have those fleets already mounted and painted.

 

I asked if he was going to work in Starfleet Wars minis like he had done with MAATAC minis in Generic Legions and he responded:

Yup, that's my intention, and I'm also going to work in the old Valiant miniatures, Star Fleet Battles ships, and whatever else I can find. I have a big fleet of the Aquarians from Starfleet Wars, which my wife painted and dubbed the D'Orque fleet. The SFW Terrans will probably end up as the Robot fleet, the Avarians will become the Budgies, the Carnivores may end up as the Bowsers or the Fyr-Baal (I'm not sure yet), and the Entomalians are of course the Squishies in GL.

 

It'll be a few months probably before I get it up on the web site. I'll also have photos of spaceship minis in GL fleet colors, and tips on how to mount ships.

 

If you've never taken a look at Generic Legions before, go take a look now.  It is a is a series of wargame rulesets for science fiction miniatures, designed for use with whatever miniatures you happen to have handy.  The rulesets vary from the Big Battle Version using 'epic' scale or 6mm miniatures to more detailed versions using 25mm minis.  The background for GL is very interesting and entertaining, with races like 'They Who Are Having A Bad Day', 'Dirty Rotten Stinking Earthies', D'Orques', 'Undead' and others Dave mentioned above.  Go ahead, take a look.

 

 

10/1/2004 - A Sky Full of Ships information has been moved to its own ASFoS Page after the big announcement.

 

2/20/2002 - More updates for A Sky Full of Ships: An Online Resource: there are fighter counters in the Misc section, more fleets posted, and an ezboard Forum on the site in addition to the ASFOS Mailing list recently created.

 

1/2/2002 - Dan let me know there have been a few updates to A Sky Full of Ships, namely revised rules for fighter combat, expanded ECM rules, and rules for ramming.

 

10/1/2001 - Formerly known as "Dan's Fast and Simple Sci-Fi Fleet Rules" this game has been updated recently with rules for interceptors and bombers, and a printer friendly version, there is even a support site,  A Sky Full of Ships: An Online Resource full of ship designs.

 

1/17/2001 - Inspired by Full Thrust and the B5 Fleet Action minis, Dan Abbott wanted to game even larger battles than Full Thrust could handle, so he took a bit of Full Thrust and added some General Quarters (WW2 Naval rules) and ended up with simplified rules so huge fleet battles could be played quickly and easily.

 

From Reviresco

 

6/22/2000 - Now available online in MS Word format are the rules for Starwar 2250 and its rules for starship construction.  This an older game with a 1970's miniature game feel so try it out.

 

 

2/26/2012 - Sunder the Stars is a space fleet combat game that can be played on a hex board or open table.  It is designed to handle task force actions and fleet engagements.  All combat is determined by opposed rolls.  Initiative-based, individual activations for ships and squadrons.  A simple mechanism allows for each ship's combat effectiveness to degrade as it takes damage.  The game does not require a control sheet for each individual ship, only each type of ship in your fleet and a few "counters" for special situations.  Plenty of optional rules to tailor the game to your style of play.  Ship and fleet construction rules are included.  And it's free.

 

 

7/30/2005 - Now available for download from Interformic Games is the space fighter game Turn or Burn:

"Turn or Burn is a fast-paced game of space fighter combat for 2 to 8 players. To start a game, you design your fighter from a deck of system cards. Each turn you play a system or maneuver card facedown to plot the action your fighter will take. The game uses vector movement, so you must plan ahead! When everyone has plotted, all players reveal their actions simultaneously. Fighters move, guns fire, stuff explodes, and it's on to the next turn."

Currently available for download is Module 1: Quick Shot which includes the basic rules, Module 2: Popcorn which adds more systems and Module 3: Bigger which adds larger fighters to the game.

Still to come are Module 4: Space War, Module 5: Exotica, and Module 6: Hard to Kill.

 

 

4/16/2006 - Nigel Hodge created these rules currently hosted on the Freewargamesrules.co.uk website:

"Vector V5 is a game of combat between small, fast starships in the distant future. The emphasis in creating these rules has been to provide players with a fast exciting game after a game or two, players will probably not have to refer to the rules at all.

The most innovative aspect of VV5 is the movement system, which is based on the real physics of movement in space. All too often, science fiction films (& games) assume that starships will behave in the same way as terrestrial ships or aircraft. The truth is quite different as you will see. Once you have played one or two games, the movement rules will become second nature; they’re actually much simpler than those used by most other games."

 

 

Lost Games No Longer Online

These games formerly on the web are now gone.  You may be able to find them by searching for their URL on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

Website

2/12/2004 - This website has been down for a while.  I haven't been able to find a new location for this game.

 

12/8/2001 - As its website says:

Based on material from SFB, SFB:TNG, FASA, B5 Wars, and more. It is a self contained game that allows for fast ship to ship combat between Star Trek, Babylon 5, Star Wars, and just about any other Sci-Fi series made. Everything you need to play (except for dice) is included on this site.

 

Control sheets are available for an astounding 416 ships and growing!

1/3/2001 - Connected to a conversion of Battlestar Galactica ships to Star Fleet Battles, the Fleet Combat System takes a higher level approach and uses many fan created ships to round out the fleets.  The introduction describes this game as:

"a set of rules that attempts to recreate the vast fleet actions that occurred during the desperate struggle between the Colonials and Cylons during the Thousand Yahren War. The rules are intended to be quick and uncomplicated, yet allowing for lot of flexibility and tactical play. "

Also of note, on this site there are conversions of the fighters from Battlestar Galactica to Star Warriors and Silent Death stats.

Website

 

From the game's own description:

"Earth Expects is a highly detailed set of tactical space combat rules which emphasise skill over firepower.  It is well suited to playing battles from duels to squadron actions; because of the high level of detail, large fleet battles can be slow to play and therefore optional rules are provided to speed play in these games."

Website

 

8/9/2004 - Madan Mitra just dropped me a note to let me know Fast Play Fleets is now at www.edragons.info and a Blakes 7 version of FPF is in the works.

 

10/29/2003 - I finally found the new location of this game online - http://www.edragons.net/ 

 

12/8/2001 - As the name says, Fast Play Fleets is another fleet game made to play quicky, as the name suggests.  Two versions are available, Star Trek and Babylon 5.  The Trek version is meant to be played with at least 15 ships per side and is a bit quicker than the B5 version due to the lack of fighters.

2/26/2011 - An updated version of GSC2 is now available as Astral Empires: Nova Command.

 

11/17/2003 - Thane Morgan announces:

I'm making some changes to GSC2, enough probably to call it GSC3. I'll probably be rewriting the whole thing when its done, but for now, I'm putting the potential changes up for players to comment on before hand, and to track as things do become vetted through playtesting. I'm also writing the reasons (as I see them) for the changes, which may be interesting for those who are interested in the game design process.

You can find the discussion here: http://www.thanesgames.com/gsc2/gsc2revisions.htm 

1/30/2000 - Several new fleets and updated rules are now available at the GSC2 page.

12/29/99 - Generic Space Combat 2 is now online for public viewing and feedback.  It is located at
http://www.thanesgames.com/gsc2/gsc2main.html
and more fleets are on the way.

12/12/99 - Thane Morgan posted the following info on GSC on rec.games.miniatures.misc:

I'm in the process of rewriting the GSC rules. Although I liked the first version a lot, I've learned a lot since it was written, and am streamlining the system for more speed and simplicity.  If anyone had thoughts on the old system, or has ideas for new ship weapons and systems, please let me know.

 

In general, the current changes are -

A much simplified ship building system

A much faster combat resolution, including:

    All rolls are low

    No charts to reference for targeting - you have a targetting level, add the aspect of target, subtract the shield level, modify for range.

   Changed the way shields work. Instead of rolling to penetrate the shields modified by weapon strength, the shields simply change the odds of hitting.  I really liked the old system, but it does drop a die roll from resolution.

    Changed the system damage resolution charts. Now there is a table created by the ship building process which a single d10 roll determines what is hit. External systems generally must be shot through before internal systems begin to be affected.

 

In general, an attack is resolved in a maximum of 3 rolls (roll to hit, roll armor save for systems, roll for which systems are damaged). This is half of the maximum number of roll in the old system (roll to hit, roll to penetrate shields,roll to penetrate armor, roll to determine system group, sometimes roll to determine system or battery, sometimes roll to determine number of special systems damaged)

 

The new system is still being tweaked for balance, especially for the cost of shields and targetting levels. I am working on the rewrite, and will post when it is available.

 

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

There will likely be a renaming as well - some of the playtesters have been beating me up about it.

A few other changes -

All light weapons have the same ranges, as do all medium and all heavy weapons. This reduces chart referencing.

The game has been "expanded" - rules have been subtly changed to reduce the tendancy for ships to be manuevered so close to each other. This involves changing ranges, movement, turn speeds, etc.

Torpedoes have been renamed more accurately as missiles.

--

Thane Morgan
Thane's Games
www.thanesgames.com
 

Website

12/15/2002 - High Frontier is available online for a playtest.  The playtest file consists of PDF files of the rules in a .sit download.  You will need Stuffit to expand the file.  I don't have much more info at this time....I have a copy I printed somewhere......but can't seem to find it right now...

Website

 

2/12/2004 - Available from Paperworlds.com, Mini Combat: Space Combat is a quick and easy game.  It also includes some great color counters you can download and print, including two different fleets of ships, plants, moons, and other space scenery.  A sample ship counter is pictured. 

Website

 

4/15/2002 - Timothy Swenson has posted, Minimal Space Combat: The Book.  

This is a PDF file with all of the MSC games and articles, including MSC, The Strategic Game, the solo rules, a new Tutorial, designer notes, and "Applying Naval Tactics to Space Combat" article.

 

12/9/2000 - This new set of starship combat rules was just web-published by Pete Jones on 11/8/99.  It is based off of the Hammerin Iron II rules for American Civil War Naval combat.  Thanks to The Miniatures Page for the link to this game.

 

 

3/7/2000 - Mike Jasinski has announced that a space combat game he developed, Sol Cruiser is now available at http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Rampart/1966/.  When describing the game, Mike says, "Basically, it combines the basic paradigm of 2300AD's Star Cruiser (emphasis on stealth, detection, and long-range missile fire), Triplanetary-style vector movement, and a ship design system loosely patterned after Full Thrust.



From Ed Walker Games

 

11/15/2004 - SPACEFARER is now available as a free download.  After review of the effort to make it pay rules, Ed made it free again for everyone.  There is a full download of all the rules in which you can design ships ranging in type from small fighters to kilometer wide Dreadnoughts, rules for ship combat and boarding combat using marines.  In addition there are Quick Start Rules which is a fast playing version of the full rules allowing players to learn combat and tactics without having to wade through ship design and complicated weapons choices. Plus there is a file of just the ship log.

 

2/22/2004 - SPACEFARER Starship Combat Simulator, long available online but recently unavailable, is online again.  The full version is being revamped and will soon be available again for purchase for a small price.  A free version in online but only includes Fighters and does not include construction rules.

Unpublished Manuscripts - http://www.trekrpg.net/trek/core/comp_core_netbooks.htm

 

Since the Star Trek RPG license is going to Decipher, several products for the Last Unicorn Games version were close to completion when Wizards of the Coast (who just bought LUG) decided to stop publishing supplements for this game.  Some of the designers of the games still had the rights to their work and with WotC's blessing, they are allowing them to be distributed electronically on the web.  These supplements are not specifically related to the tactical game Engage! (which was not close to being done) but I think they are of enough interest to space gamers that they should be listed on SCN.  The supplements of interest are Spacedock, the ship construction rules the RPG, the Ship Recognition Manuals with stats of all the ships seen in the series and movies (Next Gen era), and the Dominion War Sourcebook with info on the war, orders of battle, etc.  Many thaks to Steve Long and Don Mappin for their work on these items.

 

7/23/2002 - Ship Recognition Manual Vol. 4 - Starships of the Original Series Era is now available online.  It is a  1.76 MB zipped PDF file, 138 pages with a full color cover.

"The SRM: TOS Era covers the period 2063 to 2293, reviewing and describing some of the ships commonly identified with that time -- such as the Constitution, Miranda, and Excelsior classes. It has ships not only from the Federation, but the Klingon Empire, Romulan Empire, and other species and governments, as well as common civilian vessels. It includes detailed rules for creating ships during this period (since the basic SPACEDOCK rules focus on 24th-century technology) and some additional ship combat rules or revisions specific to the period covered."

http://www.trek-rpg.net/trek/core/comp_core_netbooks.htm 

 

3/29/2002 - Ship Recognition Manual Vol. 3 - The Klingon Empire is now available online.  It is a 2.7 MB zipped PDF file.

TrekRPG.net continues to have domain problems but can be reached at http://216.40.212.6.

The Klingon SRM and the other manuals are available at http://216.40.212.6/trek/core/comp_core_netbooks.htm.

The next SRM to be released looks like it will be The Original Series ships.

Thanks to Evil Cartman for letting me know this SRM was now available.

 

1/31/2002 - Ship Recognition Manual, Volume 2 Starships of the Cardassian Union is now available.  This is a 1.54 MB zipped PDF file. 

TrekRPG.net is still having domain problems but can be reached at http://216.40.212.6.

The Cardassian SRM and the other manuals are available at http://216.40.212.6/trek/core/comp_core_netbooks.htm.

The Klingon SRM is done and should be available soon.

 

5/17/2001 - The Dominion War Sourcebook: The Fires of Armageddon is now available from
TrekRGP.net
.  This is a 166 page PDF file, 4.9 mb is size. 

"The sourcebook contains details on the entire Dominion War, the battles, the fronts, the powers involved, and the cast of characters. Also new write-ups of equipment used in the war, including starships and ground warfare, are included. A separate Appendix includes SPACEDOCK stats as well."

 

12/31/2000 - Ship Recognition Manual, Volume 1: The Ships of Starfleet is now available.  This is a 180 page PDF file zipped to a 3.9MB file. 

"Over 50 starships in one complete book! Includes every canon Starfleet vessel seen onscreen from The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager. Also included are a number of Threat vessels to begin your own combat engagements."

All of these ships are designed according to Spacedock rules.  To download a copy, go to TrekRPG.net and follow the instructions.

Ship Recognition Manual, Vol. 2: Starships of the Cardassian Union has been written and is now being checked for errors before going to Don Mappin for the final layout.

 

12/1/2000 - Spacedock is available.  This is a massive 198 page PDF file, zipped to a 4MB download.

 

 

10/1/2001 - The website for Vanguard Games has moved to http://vanguardrpg.com/

 

1/17/2001 - As a supplement for an RPG, Vanguard Spaceships is a bit different than the other games listed here and its Hard SciFi edge makes it more interesting.  Here is how they describe the game themselves:

          "Vanguard Spaceships is a complete set of rules for designing spaceships and running spaceship combat in the Vanguard universe.  It was written to be used with Vanguard Free Roleplaying (VFR), but it works as a stand-alone game, too.

          As a game of hard science fiction, Vanguard Spaceships includes speculative but plausible technology.  Spaceships are propelled with reaction drives, not inertialess drives.  If crews need simulated gravity then they spin the ship or accelerate hard; they don't have gravity generators."